


Ichthyology 101

by yoshizora



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Genre: Gen, spoilers: some fish die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshizora/pseuds/yoshizora
Summary: Pandoria takes Poppi out fishing. Brighid tags along just because.





	Ichthyology 101

**Author's Note:**

> fishy fishy fishy

“Poppi, would you sink if you fell into the Cloud Sea?”

Brighid supposes she should have asked that before they boarded this little dinghy (which, she suspects, belongs to one of the village children and Pandoria hasn’t gotten permission to borrow) and pushed out away from shore. They can still see the islands and the currents shouldn’t pull them away any farther than this, but it would still be a fair bit of swimming if they happened to fall overboard. Or if this tiny boat capsized. Or if… well, better not to think about the worst-case scenarios.

Come to think of it, she probably should have stayed ashore, considering her own poor compatibility with water.

Oh well.

Poppi looks over at her, leaning rather precariously over the edge of the boat to peer into the clouds. “Poppi is outfitted with state of the art Noponic technology. Did Brighid know that Nopon float? Is because of unique physiology. And also fat.”

“Hm.”

“I think she means, she won’t sink,” Pandoria says. “… Probably. Well! I’m sure it’s been programmed into her robot brain, or whatever. You do know how to swim, right?”

“Poppi has jets and can fly, so is no problem either way!”

“That doesn’t really answer my question, but that also works.”

The first ray of morning sunlight reaches across the clouds, shining directly at Brighid’s face. She shields her face from the light with one hand. Pandoria tilts her head.

“What’re you doing that for? Your eyes are closed.”

Then Poppi abruptly stands up before Brighid can deliver a dry comeback; the boat dangerously sways, and Brighid holds onto the sides.

“ _Please_ don’t rock the boat.”

“Oh! Poppi is sorry.” She steps over the bench that Pandoria’s squatting on and plants one foot upon the bow of the boat— which only makes it sway harder, and the wood beneath Brighid’s hand is beginning to smolder. Poppi points ahead with both arms as if she’s preparing to take off in flight. “Full steam ahead!”

“Let’s not.”

“Aye aye, Captain Poppi!”

“ _Let’s not._ ”

Too late. Pandoria grabs the oars and begins to enthusiastically row as fast as she can, her lightbulbs glowing so brightly that Brighid would squint if she weren’t already essentially squinting. Now Brighid’s _really_ beginning to regret electing coming along on this… fishing trip, but she knows someone had to accompany them for potential damage control, considering these two and their latest endeavors.

Not that she doesn’t trust either of them, but Poppi’s still so young and Pandoria is too Pandoria, even if Zeke isn’t here to exacerbate the dramatics.

Maybe she should have dragged Lady Mòrag out of bed to come along.

“Faster, faster!” Poppi cheers, still balanced at the front of the boat.

Fonsett Village is getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and Brighid has half a mind to bark at Pandoria to stop and turn around, but she thankfully sets the oars down before the island disappears entirely in the horizon of clouds behind them. Out here, it’s quiet. Very, very quiet. It’s quiet in a peaceful sort of way, but they’re also surrounded by nothing but clouds and Brighid’s stuck on this tiny little boat.

Poppi’s curiosity is always endearing, and her sudden interest in ichthyology is no different. But surely she could have asked someone better suited for a quick fishing lesson like— Dromarch, or Nia. But Pandoria always comes up with the biggest haul whenever the group has to hunt for their dinner when they aren’t spending the night in a city, so it’s only natural to assume that she has the most knowledge when it comes to these kinds of things.

Maybe she honed her fishing talents from constantly pulling her Driver out of the Cloud Sea. Now that’s a thought.

The boat’s no longer rocking and is settled back down to a gentle swaying. Poppi, too, settles down, sitting on the bench beside Pandoria and across from Brighid. She looks between them, blinking owlishly.

“Is now good time for fishing?”

“Yup. Let’s just… mmmmmh!” Pandoria stretches her arms above her head. “It’s so nice out here, don’t’cha think? Fishing at sunrise is always the best. Back when it was just me and my Prince, I’d usually go scrounging for breakfast in the mornings before he woke up.”

“Were you mainly foragers, or scavengers?” Brighid asks with the faintest of amused smiles.

“Hey, don’t knock that lifestyle ’til you’ve tried it.”

“I’d rather not.”

Pandoria shrugs. “That’s probably for the better. Between you and me, I’d rather spend a night in a comfy bed instead of on a pile of leaves. Anyway, Poppi, ready for our fishing lesson?”

“Poppi has been ready from the very beginning!”

“That’s the spirit! So you can’t really see them, but there’s loads of little critters swimming just below the surface. You wanna make sure you’re in an area of water that’s dense with them. Because what’s the point of fishing if there aren’t any fish, you know?”

“Noted, noted!”

“Then, you get onto the good part by dipping your hands in the clouds.”

“—Wait a second,” Brighid interrupts. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Heh! Open your eyes Brighid, this is my own secret technique that I haven’t taught anyone else! Not even my Prince can pull this off!”

Brighid keeps her eyes closed.

Poppi is watching and nodding as Pandoria plunges her hands into the clouds up to her elbows. Bless her, she looks genuinely enraptured by this outlandish performance. Maybe because Pandoria seems eager to prove that she can be an effective tutor, or Poppi’s just being nice.

“Okay, and then you just— _zap!_ … I, uh, don’t really have a fancy name for that move.”

There’s a _very_ loud crackle, and the clouds around the boat are briefly illuminated by violent flashes of light. In those split seconds, Brighid can see the silhouettes of small fish that had been peacefully swimming around and minding their own business… and not long later, those fish begin to surface, bobbing up and down in the clouds.

“Amazing, wow wow!” Poppi claps her hands, her eyes practically shining. “Pandoria is so cool! So innovative, too! The best ichthyologist in all of Alrest!”

“Poppi, maybe you shouldn’t feed her ego. Look. She’s preening.”

“I— I’m not preening!” She pushes at her glasses and huffs. “Whatever— help me get these fishies in!”

Brighid cradles her face in one hand as Pandoria and Poppi reach out to grab the dead fish two at a time, tossing them onto the floor of the boat. It’s… efficient, she’ll give Pandoria that. But must she use such a crude method? At least a damn spear would be more refined than this.

The fish reek. She’s suddenly tempted to start tossing them back overboard, but that would mean touching them with her hands. Brighid delicately pulls her feet up when Pandoria tosses a fish in too close to her.

“May Poppi make suggestion? Maybe use explosion to bring fishies up to surface?”

“Oooh! I like that idea! Let’s try that, next!”

“Absolutely not,” Brighid sharply says.

Electrocuting the fish is crude, but blowing them up is just barbaric. Both Poppi and Pandoria are giving her beseeching looks, and Brighid may actually give in to Poppi’s out of sheer weakness from the fondness she has for her, but then the clouds are disturbed and their boat _jolts._

And a massive Serprond emerges from the clouds, staring all three of them down with its beady eyes.

Anyone else would surely be shocked and frightened by the sudden appearance of such a beast, but Brighid only sighs in annoyance while Poppi babbles on about _what a big catch!_

What a big catch, indeed.

Pandoria whoops as the Serprond swipes at their boat with its tail— Brighid grits her teeth as she holds onto the sides for dear life, wondering why on earth Poppi had to pick up _ichthyology_ as her new field of interest. Agronomy wasn’t enough, nooo. Vegetables are fine. Vegetables don’t need to be electrocuted. Vegetables don’t threaten to capsize their dinghy.

Miraculously though, the boat remains upright though it’s madly careening across the clouds. Pandoria is still laughing wildly as if she’s having the time of her life, and somehow she’d fallen upon Brighid and is now holding onto _her_ instead of the boat or bench.

Brighid tries to push her off. “You attracted that beast with your lightning! It’s your responsibility, Pandoria!”

“No, no, it’s fine! Check it out, Poppi has it in the bag!”

She does indeed. Poppi is flying through the air away from the boat and towards the agitated Serprond. The Serprond hisses, crackling with its own electric energy, preparing to either spew a jet of water or strike with lightning. But alas, neither opportunity comes to it.

Its defeat is terribly anticlimactic; Poppi drills clean through it with all that momentum from her flight speed. It gently falls into the clouds with a gaping hole in its side.

Pandoria finally lets go of Brighid, only to try leaping overboard. Brighid is narrowly able to grab her around the waist to hold her back.

“Wait, waaait! Drag it up before it sinks!” Pandoria shouts, flailing her arms in Poppi’s direction.

“You want to _keep_ that thing?!”

“Uh, of course I do?! It’s Poppi’s first catch! Poppi! I’m so proud of you, girl! Nice job!”

“And how exactly do you propose dragging it all the way back with us?”

Poppi swoops down low over their heads, so close that Brighid can feel the heat of her jets. She salutes them with a smile.

“Poppi reads Brighid loud and clear! No need to worry!”

And she… dives straight into the clouds, and Brighid supposes that her earlier question of whether or not Poppi can float really was pointless. Ah, well. She yanks Pandoria back into the boat (and inadvertently tosses her right on top of all those dead fish) and peers closely into the clouds. Soon enough, Poppi bursts back out… carrying that dead Serprond above her head.

Oh, right. She’s strong.

“ _Nice!_ ” Pandoria, not terribly bothered by the stink of fish now clinging to her, flashes two thumbs up.

 

* * *

 

Everyone else finds Poppi, Pandoria, and Brighid on the shores just outside the village when the morning sun has had its chance to dry the dew. There’s a blue campfire (more like a bonfire) roaring, and a half-butchered Serprond on the ground beside it. Pieces of it are roasting.

“Heeey! Good morning, everyone! Just in time for breakfast!” Pandoria, squatting by the fire and watching over the cooking meat, waves to them. Poppi is doing a cheerful little dance, pleased as punch.

They all just sort of stare, though Dromarch may or may not be smiling with his mouth wide open at the sight of that Serprond.

It certainly is _something_ , and no one seems to be able to find the right words for it. Brighid, who had found a relatively clean piece of driftwood to sit on, sighs at the incredulous look on Mòrag’s face. Poppi dances over to her.

“Poppi wants to learn about mineralogy next! Will Brighid teach Poppi?”

All things considered, it could be a lot worse.

“Of course, Poppi.”

At least _rocks_ can’t be electrocuted.


End file.
